The redevelopment project comprised:

• New 6000 m² north Block opening in 2011 as the first stage of the redevelopment project, including the opening of the hospital’s new 75 bay emergency department, 34 bed maternity unit, an expanded Intensive Care Unit (ICU), medical imaging expansion and Neonatal Intensive Care services expansion (NICU)
• 2 new operating theatres (460 m²) opening in 2012.
• New 0MW central energy facility commissioned in 2013
• New 10,000 m² Clinical Support and Services Building (CSSB building) opening in 2014 containing forensic mortuary, new kitchen and waste management facility at basement level
• New 3,450 m² Townsville Cancer Centre opening in 2015 containing oncology consulting rooms, treatment spaces, Linac bunkers, laboratories, medical records storage and expanded clinical information support areas
• New 2,300 m² Pathology expansion opening in 2014
• New 7,000 m² South Block ward expansion opening in 2015
• New 1,700 m² Planned Procedure Centre (PPC) containing an additional 2 operating theatres and theatre support areas opening in 2016
• Refurbished and expanded 1,000 m² Central Sterilising Services Department (CSSD) opening in 2017

DMA Engineers initially joined with Jacobs Engineering (Formerly S2F and SKM) to provide the engineering services for Stage 1 of the project, North Block, and were retained in this arrangement throughout the entire project with both parties delivering approximately half of the engineering services.

Queensland Heath and The Townsville Hospital Health Service (TTHS) had a need to provide substantially more hospital functions and capacity at the Townsville Hospital to meet the growing demands of the local and regional community, even though the existing hospital was only approximately 10 years old.

Current construction prices were rising significantly due to a drain on design and construction industry staff lured to the booming mining industry, compounded by difficulties in meeting program deadlines due to industry resource limitations.

Queensland Health and TTHS required a design and documentation team to deliver well coordinated and comprehensive documentation packages to mitigate the effects of the resource stretched construction industry throughout the lengthy construction phase period of the various projects.

Not to be overshadowed by these specific challenges, both Queensland Health and TTHS required a high level of compliance with their own regulations and the myriad of other statutory requirements that need to be met for hospital engineering services installations.

DMA Engineers worked closely with joint project architects, Cox and Thomson Adsett, to integrate the building services within the functional and architectural form of the various buildings.

A rigorous workflow process comprising active coordination sessions, as well as utilising Revit and companion product Navisworks, paved the way for highly coordinated and resolved architectural, structural and engineering building services design. This collaborative technology based workflow was complemented by traditional architect and engineer consultation and team work designing and documenting fit for purpose solutions.

Beyond the clear advantages of using BIM technology, DMA and other project team members upheld a strong commitment to support each other and to push on until the right solutions to the right level of detail were realised.

The time and effort spent in close consultation and coordination between our team and the architects netted benefits to Queensland Health and TTHS throughout the construction of the project and in the use of the completed facility.

The high level of spatial coordination was a key aspect of the streamlined and largely hassle free facility construction period, keeping the project program and cost plan on track during a period of substantial industry cost and resourcing pressures.